CAE Speaking Part 2: How to Compare Photos and Speculate

The short answer

In CAE Speaking Part 2, you are not being asked to describe two photos. You are being asked to compare them, speculate about them and answer two questions, all in one minute. The candidates who score well do the comparison first, move quickly into speculation, and save the last 20 seconds for the second question. The candidates who struggle start by describing what they can see, and the minute runs out before they get to what the examiner is actually listening for.

This article explains why that happens, even to strong candidates, and gives you a simple 60-second structure that puts the comparison and speculation where they belong: at the start.

What CAE Speaking Part 2 actually asks for

Part 2 of the C1 Advanced speaking test is the long turn. It lasts about four minutes for a pair of candidates. Each of you is given three photos and asked to talk about two of them on your own for about one minute. Your partner is then asked a short question about your photos and answers for about 30 seconds. Then you swap.

Cambridge describes the purpose of the task as organising a longer piece of discourse by comparing, describing, expressing opinions and speculating (Cambridge English teacher guide for C1 Advanced Speaking). Notice the order of that list. Describing is there, but it sits among four things, and it is the one that does the least work.

The task also comes with two questions, written on the page above the photos. A typical pair might be: “Why might the people have chosen to work in these places? How might their working day be affected by where they are?” The first question asks you to speculate. The second asks you to go one step further. Many candidates answer the first question, or part of it, and never reach the second.

So in one minute, the examiner wants to hear you choose two photos and compare them rather than describe them one after the other; speculate about what is happening, why, and how the people might feel; answer both questions; and organise all of that so it is easy to follow.

Why strong candidates describe instead of compare

If you know you should compare, why do you end up describing? It is not because you lack the language. Most CAE candidates know how to say “whereas”, “in contrast” and “both photos show”. It happens because of what pressure does to your thinking.

When the examiner hands you the photos and the clock starts, your brain looks for the safest place to begin. Describing is that place. What you can see needs no ideas, no opinion and no risk: “In the first photo there is a woman sitting at a desk. She is wearing a blue jacket.” It feels like progress, so you keep going. Twenty seconds later you have described one photo in detail and have not yet compared anything.

Then a second problem appears. You realise you still have the other photo, the comparison and two questions to cover, and less than 40 seconds to do it. So you rush, ramble, or stop early, and the second question is the first thing to disappear.

In my experience this is close to universal. It is genuinely rare for a CAE candidate to compare the photos from their very first sentence. Part of the reason, I believe, is how picture tasks are taught at lower levels: for years, learners are asked to describe the picture, and that habit travels with them all the way to C1. It also explains why many candidates are surprised, and sometimes unconvinced, when I point it out. Describing has always felt like doing the task properly.

So this is a performance habit, not a language gap, and habits respond to structure. If you decide in advance what the first 20 seconds will contain, the safe-but-empty description has nowhere to go.

What the examiner is listening for

The examiners mark your performance across the whole test rather than giving a separate score for Part 2. But Part 2 is where one criterion shows more clearly than anywhere else: Discourse Management. At the top band for C1 Advanced, Cambridge describes a candidate who “produces extended stretches of language with ease and with very little hesitation”, whose “contributions are relevant, coherent and varied”, and who “uses a wide range of cohesive devices and discourse markers” (Cambridge C1 Advanced teacher guide).

Read that again with the describing habit in mind. A minute of description can be extended and fluent, but it is rarely relevant to the questions, and it gives you almost nothing to connect. Comparison and speculation are what create coherence: they force you to link one idea to another.

In terms of the Four Pillars I use with every client, Part 2 tests three of them hardest. Organisation: a minute with a clear shape, where the listener always knows where you are going. Flexibility: moving from what you can see to what might be true, by speculating, interpreting and offering a second possibility. Composure: keeping that shape when the clock is running and your first idea runs out.

A 60-second structure for CAE Speaking Part 2

This is not a script. It is a shape, so that the important work happens early and the minute never runs out before the second question.

0–20 seconds: compare straight away

Name what the two photos have in common, then the key difference. For example: “Both of these photos show people working away from a traditional office, but the settings couldn’t be more different.”

20–40 seconds: speculate about the first question

Offer a reason for each photo and, if you can, a second possibility. For example: “The man in the café might have chosen it for the background noise, which some people find helps them concentrate, whereas the woman at home has probably chosen comfort and flexibility, perhaps because of family commitments.”

40–60 seconds: answer the second question and close

Show you have heard both parts of the task. For example: “As for how their day might be affected, I’d imagine the man has far more interruptions, while the woman could easily find the line between work and home starting to blur. On balance, I suspect she’d find it harder to switch off.”

Three things that make it work

Start with “both” or “whereas”, not “in the first photo”. The opening words decide whether you describe or compare. If your first sentence links the two photos, the rest follows.

Speculate in pairs. One reason is a guess. Two reasons, or a reason and an alternative, show the flexibility the top band rewards.

Treat the second question as non-negotiable. If the clock is tight, cut detail from the speculation, never the second question.

Speculation language matters less than you think. “Might”, “probably”, “I’d imagine”, “it looks as though” and “perhaps” are all you need. What matters is that you use them to say something interesting.

Before and after: the same minute, rebuilt

Here is the kind of answer I often hear from capable CAE candidates. The task: two photos of people working away from an office, one in a busy café and one at a kitchen table. “Why might the people have chosen to work in these places? How might their working day be affected?”

Before

“In the first photo, there is a man in a café. He is sitting at a small table with a laptop and a coffee. There are a lot of people behind him and it looks quite busy. He is wearing a shirt and he looks concentrated. In the second photo there is a woman at home, in the kitchen I think. She has a laptop too and there are some papers on the table. Maybe she is working from home. I think the man chose the café because he likes coffee, and the woman because it is comfortable…” (Time runs out.)

Nothing here is wrong. The grammar is accurate and the vocabulary is fine. But almost 40 seconds go on description, the comparison never happens, the speculation is thin, and the second question is never answered.

After

“Both photos show people who’ve chosen to work outside a traditional office, but for very different reasons, I’d imagine. The man in the café might find the background noise helps him focus, or perhaps he just needs to get out of the house, whereas the woman at the kitchen table has probably chosen comfort and flexibility, possibly because she has children to collect later. As for how their day might be affected, he’s likely to face far more interruptions, while she could find it hard to separate work from home life. On balance, I suspect she’d struggle more to switch off at the end of the day.”

What changed: the first sentence compares, so description becomes unnecessary. Each speculation offers two possibilities, joined by “or perhaps” and “possibly”. The second question is answered clearly, signposted with “As for…”. And the answer closes with a judgement, “On balance…”, so it sounds finished rather than cut off.

The language level is barely higher than the first answer. What changed is the order and the shape.

Don’t forget your 30 seconds

After your partner’s long turn, the examiner asks you a short question about their photos, for example: “Which person do you think will be more productive?” You have about 30 seconds, and many candidates either repeat what their partner just said or give a one-word answer.

Use a mini version of the same shape: answer directly, give one reason, and add a second thought. “I’d say the woman at home, mainly because she has fewer distractions, although it probably depends on how disciplined she is.” Three clauses, under 30 seconds, and it sounds like a real opinion.

How to practise it this week

You don’t need official materials for this. Any two photos from a news site will do.

First, pick two photos with something in common: two holidays, two workplaces, two ways of travelling. Then write two questions in the Cambridge style, beginning “Why might…?” and “How might…?”. Set a timer for one minute and record yourself.

Listen back with three checks. Did your first sentence compare? Did you speculate with two possibilities? Did you answer the second question before the minute ended? Then do it again with the same photos. The second attempt is where the structure starts to feel natural.

Five minutes a day for a week is enough to change the habit.

The bigger picture

Describing instead of comparing is one of six patterns I see again and again in CAE candidates, and almost none of them are about missing language. They are about what happens to good English under time pressure.

If you’d like to know which of those patterns is holding your speaking back, the Initial Assessment is a 60-minute diagnostic session that shows you exactly where your performance stands, followed by a written Speaking Performance Profile. You can also read more about how I coach CAE candidates.

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